The FBI of the United States has stated that it will release around 2,500 papers related to President Bola Tinubu’s forfeiture case.
According to a court filing, the documents will be released in stages beginning at the end of October in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Aaron Greenspan, the founder of PlainSite, a website that promotes anti-corruption and transparency in government.
Greenspan submitted the request with the help of investigative journalist David Hundeyin.
The documents are expected to reveal more details regarding Tinubu’s time in the United States, such as when he arrived, under what name he arrived, and his activities while there. The materials are also likely to reveal insight into Tinubu’s suspected drug trafficking participation in the 1990s.
Beginning in October, the documents will be published in batches of 500 pages every month.
The FBI stated in a status report filed on September 11 before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.: “FBI has discovered a total of about 2500 pages potentially relevant to FOIA requests 1553430-00 and 1587544-000,
“The FBI intends to process 500 pages per month, with an initial release scheduled for the end of October 2023.”
The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, had challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration of Tinubu as president in separate petitions filed at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja on February 25, 2023.
They asked the court to rule that, at the time of the presidential election, Tinubu was ineligible to run due to forfeiture of proceeds from drug trafficking and money laundering in the United States, declaration of allegiance to a country other than Nigeria, presentation of a forged university certificate, perjury, and inability to win the most votes cast. On September 6, however, the PEPT dismissed both suits.
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